


sand

by lazyfish



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Gen, Trauma Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:34:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22519333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lazyfish/pseuds/lazyfish
Summary: Jemma encounters sand for the first time since returning from Maveth.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 19
Collections: Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2019





	sand

Even before Maveth, she had never liked sand. It got between her toes and scratched at her skin and it took too many washes to get all of it out of her hair.

But the team had wanted to go to the beach, and Jemma wasn’t going to sit alone at the base pitying herself when she could be appreciating a life she had once thought lost. Sunshine, sea breeze, laughter in the air - six months ago, that had been a pipe dream. So she sat on a towel on the beach, book open on her lap even though she wasn’t reading. She was too busy watching - Bobbi and Daisy burying Hunter neck-deep in sand, Fitz and Mack arguing over optimal sand castle construction, May pretending to do tai-chi despite her constantly looking over her shoulder, Coulson lazily sipping at a cocktail… it all felt like a scene out of a dream.

Jemma reached out without thinking, dragging her hand through the sand at her side. The grains slid through her fingers, wedged themselves under her fingernails, and caught in the creases of her palm. Sand was stubborn, Jemma thought, hand still half-buried in the stuff. It was stubborn and abrasive and _annoying_ and on Maveth it had buffed away parts of her she had never been willing to lose. But this sand was white, not blue, and there sun shining like Jemma had never hoped to see on Maveth. She was home, not on an alien planet too far away from the people she loved.

“Jemma!” Daisy called across the sand. “Come here, we need more hands!”

Jemma carefully inserted her bookmark in between the pages of her book - the same place it had started and stepped off the towel. Her first impulse wasn’t to walk towards Daisy; she stopped, and wiggled her toes in the sand. She had been wearing her shoes on their trek down to the water’s edge, and hadn’t felt the sand until that moment.

It was oddly… nice. Warm, almost too hot, but it didn’t make her cringe any more, and that alone was worth celebrating. There was a softness to it, too. It didn’t feel like it could chafe away at her anymore. Of course she might feel differently a few hours from now when it was all still caught in her bathing suit, but for now it was enough for the sand to feel good.

“Save me, Jem!” Hunter called as she padded closer. 

“She’s not here to save you, dingus,” Daisy snorted. “She’s here to bury you.”

Hunter put on the most affected pout Jemma had ever seen, and she smiled at him. “Sorry, but she’s right.”

“As long as you unbury me eventually,” Hunter said. He was smiling despite his protestations, and Jemma laughed when Bobbi poured a handful of sand over Hunter’s head as punishment for whining. He sneezed once, but he laughed along with the girls, and it felt like _enough_.

The sun was shining and Jemma Simmons was burying someone in the sand without there being any sort of sorrow to it. The sun was shining and Jemma Simmons was playing in the sand without a care.

The sun was shining, the sand was soft, and she was healing.


End file.
